


Electric Boogaloo!

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: The Many Adventures of Duckburg's Heroes! [9]
Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: 91 Drake is showing strongly in 17 Drake, And she's not afraid to use them, But it's there, Emphasis on "Why am I so bad at being good?", F/M, Gandra is in her Zuko redemption arc phase, Gyro thinks he has all the braincells, M/M, The Drakepad be lowkey in this one guys, Violet has all the braincells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24289615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: Two days after the disastrous double-date that ended with bloodshed and Gandra Dee revealing that she wants out of F.O.W.L, Fenton is still struggling to make sense of everything that happened. More importantly, wrap his head around the fact that Gandra is, apparently, starting to fall in love with him. With his head (and heart) in a bad place, it's another blow to hear that his fellow superhero, Darkwing Duck, has been medically grounded for the next two weeks, leaving Gizmoduck on his own to protect Duckburg.And that was all before learning that Megavolt broke out of prison.Left with very few choices in crime-fighting partners, Gizmoduck agrees to a team-up with Gandra and her nanites, with assistance from Gosalyn, Webby, Violet, Lena and Dr. Gearloose. Will they be able to stop Megavolt? Can Gandra prove to Fenton that she is trying to be a good guy? And will Lena find out why Webby is so reluctant to trust Gandra?
Relationships: Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera/Gandra Dee
Series: The Many Adventures of Duckburg's Heroes! [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478648
Comments: 43
Kudos: 129





	1. Chapter 1

“Grounded?” Fenton said, surprised. “What do you mean you’re grounded?”

Drake scowled, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the table. He started to fold his arms over his chest, only for him to wince at the action and he readjusted his arms. “I mean,” He said bitterly. “Elise has banned me from being Darkwing Duck for a whole two weeks. Longer if she thinks my arm needs more time to heal.”

With that, he gestured to the white bandages wrapped around his arm before going back to sulking.

“And meanwhile,” Drake snapped. “Negaduck and Morgana could be anywhere, with the unlimited power of the Blood Ruby! And here I am, _grounded_.”

It had been two days since the disastrous double-date that Gizmoduck, Gandra, Darkwing and Elise had been on, with the unexpected additions of Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Gosalyn, Violet and Lena—who were spying on Gandra—and Negaduck and Morgana—who were crashing the party in an effort to destroy Darkwing. Negaduck had managed to stab Darkwing in the arm, using his blood to power the Blood Ruby that Morgana wielded.

Clearly, Drake was not handling it well.

To be fair, everyone was tense and on-edge.

Especially given that they also learned that Gandra was a member of the organization F.O.W.L. Granted, she claimed that she wanted out, a statement confirmed with a truth-telling artifact of Scrooge McDuck’s.

Gandra, who also admitted that she was falling in love with Fenton.

Gandra, who Fenton wasn’t quite certain how he felt about her.

Fenton was the first to admit that his head and thoughts were a jumbled, unorganized mess on a good day. It was pretty much his default state. But the thought of being alone on the crime-fighting circuit again while his heart, gut, and mind were being torn in so many different directions over the entire debacle did not sit well with him.

_One thing at a time, Fenton. One thing at a time._

“Drake, if Elise grounded you, shouldn’t you be home? Resting?” Fenton asked.

“What, you going to tattle on me?” Drake snapped, eyes silently daring Fenton to.

Fenton had no desire to get Elise involved, especially since she was currently at her day-job at the Duckburg Hospital Emergency Room. Mostly because he knew that it would just rile Drake up more. And Fenton had a feeling that was what Drake wanted. To get his emotions and body in gear for a fight with anyone and anything.

Fenton knew from past experience that a truly injured Drake Mallard was a moody mess (especially when pain meds were involved), but this was at a level of crankiness that Fenton had never encountered before in his friend. Fenton was, therefore, wisely choosing to not poke the beast.

He did, however, ask one more question before he was ready to drop the issue.

“Where’s Launchpad?”

Because if anyone could manage an angsty Drake—other than Elise, who did so with an iron fist—it was Launchpad, with a much gentler hand.

Drake didn’t answer because, as if saying his name summoned him, the elevator doors to the lab opened, revealing Launchpad, Gosalyn, Webby, Lena, Violet…

And Gandra.

Fenton swallowed, then turned to busy himself at his lab station.

He hadn’t seen or spoken to Gandra in two days.

He didn’t know what to say to her, or how to act around her.

And he most certainly didn’t know how he felt about her.

“Intern, have you seen—” Gyro started to ask as he came down the stairs from the lab’s upper level, then he paused, arching an eyebrow at the girls. “I thought you were all grounded for eternity.”

“Mr. McDuck has convinced our parents that it would be better for our developing characters if we worked as our punishment instead of simply sitting at home without access to books or electronics,” Violet answered. “And so here we are.”

Gandra let out a scoff as she started looking through an array of tools laid out. “Ironic, isn’t it? They’re the ones who are grounded, and yet they still got all the trust and responsibility to keep an eye on me.”

“You know what you did,” Webby snapped, narrowing her eyes at Gandra.

Webby’s reaction to Gandra surprised Fenton, if for no other reason than he had never known the bubbly young girl to get angry or hold a grudge. She was always so upbeat and ready to make friends with anyone at any given time.

But all of that had gone out the window as soon as Webby learned that Gandra was a part of F.O.W.L. Even now, knowing that Gandra wanted out, Webby still made her dislike and distrust evident.

“Gyro, Fenton, I leave the ladies with you,” Launchpad said, coming over to Drake. “C’mon.”

“Where we going?” Drake asked suspiciously.

“Elise texted me. She wants to check your stitches,” Launchpad explained.

Drake groaned and snapped, “And she didn’t even think to text _me_ about my own stitches?”

“Just come on, and we’ll go get Hamburger Hippo on our way, bring some to Elise for her lunch,” Launchpad cajoled.

Drake huffed and got out of his chair. “Fine. Gos, we’ll pick you up later. Behave. And don’t touch anything.”

“I won’t break anything, Dad!” Gosalyn insisted.

“I’m more worried that something in here is going to break you,” Drake responded as Launchpad herded him out the door.

Gyro huffed and looked at Fenton. “You babysit the rugrats, and I’ll take the spy.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be—” Fenton started to say but was cut off by an alarm coming from his duffel bag. Fenton hopped off his stool and pulled open the zipper of the bag, knowing what that alarm meant. “Blathering blatherskite.”

Within seconds, the Gizmoduck armor was snapped in place and he opened the panel on the gauntlet, grimacing immediately. “Blathering blatherskite.”

“You said that already,” Gyro informed him flatly as he came up beside Gizmoduck, who showed the inventor what was on the panel. “Ah,” Gyro said with a small nod. “Yes, that second ‘blathering blatherskite’ was warranted.”

“You guys going to continue to be cryptic or…?” Lena asked.

In response, Gyro called out, “Lil Bulb! Local news station!”

Wherever Lil Bulb was, he fulfilled the order as one of the large computer screens flashed to life, showing them downtown Duckburg, currently under attack…

“Hey, it’s Megavolt!” Gosalyn exclaimed. “Don’t tell me he got pardoned again!”

“Nope, good old fashioned jail break this time from the looks of it,” Gizmoduck answered. He groaned. “This is not good. This is really, really not good…”

“Uh, who is Megavolt?” Gandra asked.

“An electricity supervillain who inadvertently cosplayed as a villain on the old _Darkwing Duck_ show and had a stupidly long name no one could pronounce so now everyone just calls him Megavolt,” Gosalyn explained.

“He believes in ‘liberating’ electricity and items that operate through electricity from the citizens of the city because we evidentially do not truly appreciate it in the way that he does,” Violet added. “Which is somewhat ironic, in how he manipulates electricity to meet his goals.”

“He tried to cause a city-wide blackout on Christmas Eve,” Lena added.

“And neither Darkwing nor I have been able to take him down on our own,” Gizmoduck explained. “We’ve had to have a team to take this maniac down. And, of course, he breaks free pretty much the moment Darkwing is out of commission.”

“You know, Webby, Lena, Violet and I have helped put Megavolt away twice now,” Gosalyn said, gesturing to herself and her friends. “We can help you!”

“I appreciate the offer but that’s not going to happen,” Gizmoduck said.

“But you need help, and if you can’t get it from Darkwing, or Launchpad, and won’t take it from us, who will you get it from?” Webby asked.

“Ideally, one other person who has helped arrest Megavolt twice,” Gizmoduck said, putting his hands on his mechanical hips. “And that would be Loopy McQuack.”

“Right,” Gyro said, drawing out the word and adjusting his glasses. “Which would be hard enough to do if she was in New Quackmore, but is going to be impossible with her being in New Yolk right now.”

“Wait, how do you know where Loopy is?” Gosalyn asked Gyro, arching an eyebrow.

Gyro shrugged. “We follow each other on Tweeter.” When everyone looked at him with surprise, he frowned and added, “What? We run in the same professional circles and have similar interests. We’re friends. I have friends, you know.”

“We’re more surprised you have a Tweeter account, if we’re being honest,” Lena said. “Given how ancient you are.”

Gyro gave her a look that was a mixture of disgust and outrage. “Ancient? How dare you, thirty-five is not ‘ancient’!”

“Is to me,” Lena said with a shrug.

“Right. Great,” Gizmoduck said, deflating slightly. He took a deep breath. “No matter. I used to do this on my own all the time. I can do this alone.”

“You don’t have to do it alone,” Gandra commented, looking over at him for the first time since she entered the lab.

“I don’t really see any other option,” Gizmoduck said, spreading his hands wide. “And I’m wasting time.”

“You do have another option,” Gandra argued. She pointed her thumb at her chest. “Me.”

“You?” Gizmoduck, Gyro and Webby exclaimed at the same time, but with three very different inflections.

“Yeah, me,” Gandra said. She spread her palms in front of her. “This guy can use electricity, right? Well, so can I with my nanites.”

“This is perfect!” Lena exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air as she came over to Gandra’s side. “This way, Gandra can prove to you guys—and everyone else—that she is a good guy and we should trust her!”

“Or it’s a set up for a trap!” Webby said, stomping over to stand beside Gizmoduck, her arms folded over her chest and her eyes narrowed.

“Either way, Gandra is not wrong; she is, ultimately, the best choice for aiding Gizmoduck in taking down Megavolt,” Violet spoke up.

Webby glared at her. “ _E tu,_ Violet?”

“Hold up,” Gosalyn said, holding her hands out. “Both Violet and Lena are right, and that does not mean I’m taking their side or saying you’re wrong, Webby—” She quickly added at Webby’s outraged expression, cutting off the other girl before she could speak. “—but right now what matters is that Megavolt is out there causing chaos, and we all know just how much damage he can cause to the city. We’re wasting time arguing when we could be taking him down.”

“There is no ‘we’ in this,” Gizmoduck said. “You girls are staying here.”

“Did you miss the part where we’ve been assigned to stick with Gandra?” Gosalyn asked him, gesturing to the scientist. “You have to take us along.”

Gizmoduck huffed. “Fine. I don’t like any of this, but fine. Gandra, girls, Dr. Gearloose, come on.”

“Wait, what?” Gyro said, looking up from his tablet with a wide-eyed look. “Why do I have to come along?”

“Because,” Gizmoduck said, turning to the scientist. “You told me to watch the girls. You said that you’d watch Gandra.”

Gyro scowled. “Fine,” He spat as he went over and grabbed Lil Bulb off a table. “Who knows? Maybe my presence is the only thing that stops this from ending as the complete and utter garbage fire it’s currently set up to be.”

“That’s the spirit, Dr. Gearloose,” Gizmoduck said, resisting the urge to sigh. “Vamos.”

*****

Megavolt cackled as people ran out of the movie theater screaming, chased by popcorn poppers that were shooting out hot kernels like a machine gun, a slushie machine alternately hurling cherry and blue raspberry at people, long strands of tickets were grabbing people’s arms and legs like tentacles, and projectors that staggered like the zombies on the film they so selflessly displayed for these worthless, ungrateful movie goers.

All the while, he hummed “Time of My Life” to himself as he liberated the bulbs from the large sign displaying the currently playing titles. Soon, they’d all be going towards their own happily-ever-after…

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” He muttered with his eyes closed as he nuzzled one of the warm bulbs to his cheek. “No, you’re too good for them, so bright and brilliant and URF!”

Megavolt shook his head, nearly dropping ‘Baby’ as he reached up to wipe pie off his face. He shook the remains of the blackberry pie off of his hands and scowled.

Pies from nowhere could only mean one thing.

“Well, well, well, Gizmoduck,” Megavolt sneered as he turned to look down at the armored superhero. “Long time no see.”

“Would have visited you in prison, but just can’t get past the metal detectors,” Gizmoduck responded. “But don’t worry. This time, I’ll make sure to send some care packages. In fact, how about I get started on that now?”

Megavolt dropped down to the ground, dodging pies, pulling out a remote and smirking. “Actually, I’m more in the mood for a light snack!”

He pressed a button on the remote, and there was the sound of glass breaking and horrific grinding noises as vending machines appeared to surround Gizmoduck, shooting snacks and bottled drinks at him.

However, Megavolt didn’t get a chance to see Gizmoduck get struck by any of these things, because a large, dark barrier went up around him, the snacks bouncing off—several now ricocheting towards Megavolt, who yelped and dodged.

“Thank you, Lena!” Gizmoduck called as the barrier lowered, the vending machines out of ammo.

Megavolt snarled at Gizmoduck, and at the four young girls who had appeared at his side. “I see you’ve brought your little friends with you. Emphasis on ‘little’.”

“‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’,” Quoted the small hummingbird. “William Drakespeare.”

“Leave the fighting to the grown-ups,” Megavolt sneered. “Electrokinexcelsior.”

“Dude, literally no one calls you that,” The red-haired duckling said with a snort. “Your name is Megavolt, deal with it.”

That made him really hot. “Little punk!” He snarled, rubbing his hands together, generating sparks. “I’ll deal with you!”

However, before he could hurl energy at the girl or Gizmoduck, something struck him hard in the back of the head and sent a jolt through his system. His electricity was loosed around him.

What hit him?

Other than the knock to the head, it wasn’t… unpleasant. More electricity rippled through him, more energy, more power…

“Hey, could you not do that when he’s getting charged up?” Gizmoduck yelled. “He misdirects, and an entire quadrant could lose power!”

“I had an opportunity and I went for it!” Snapped a female voice.

Megavolt turned to where the thing had come from, and saw two chickens—one white and male and the other brown and female—standing a few feet away.

Megavolt recognized the male chicken right away—how could he not recognize a fellow Wirehead? _The_ Doctor Gyro Gearloose, head of research for McDuck Enterprises, inventor of Bulb Tech! Blessed, blessed tech that allowed lightbulbs to move on their own, showing that they are intelligent, thinking, feeling individuals who should not be forced into servitude! And there was one of his famous Lil Bulbs now, perhaps even the original!

However, he got the sense that it was not time to fanboy, as Dr. Gearloose was scowling at him and Lil Bulb was shaking his fist… Well, they always say that you should never meet your heroes, you’ll only be disappointed…

But the female chicken… She was smirking slightly, tossing a rock up and down in her hand.

Megavolt didn’t know her, but he wanted to.

Megavolt saw her hands. Saw the sparks that were coming from her skin, the rock absorbing that energy.

Well, this was interesting…

And hot.

Very hot.

“Hey, you hot little exposed electrical wire,” He called over to her. “I feel some sparks between us. How about you and I ditch the tin can over there and get our electrons going?”

The woman’s smirk turned into a frown. “Ew,” She said flatly, then hurled the rock in her hand.

It struck Megavolt in the face.

“So… that’s a maybe, right?” Megavolt asked once he had recovered, but also hiding his own glee.

This was more power than he was used to…

The woman’s eyes flashed in a dangerous way and she rubbed her palms together, her hair curling and twisting from the electricity building.

“Gandra, don’t!” Gizmoduck yelled.

But it was too late. The woman—Gandra—unleashed the building electricity in her hands, knocking Megavolt off his feet…

And landing him conveniently closer to the entrance to the old abandoned subway tunnels for an easy escape to go with his power trip.

He took the opportunity and ran for it.

Literally.

*****

“What was that?” Gizmoduck demanded as they rushed after Megavolt into the subway tunnels. “I approved the idea with the rocks, but you shouldn’t have used that much power without a vessel!”

“He was being a gross creep!” Gandra said defensively.

“Yes, and now we may have lost a supervillain on a literal power trip!” Gyro yelled at her.

“He can’t have gotten too far!” Gandra insisted.

“If a single Terra-Firmian gets hurt because of Megavolt, I will end you, Gandra Dee!” Webby yelled as they descended further into the darkness.

“Terra what now?” Gosalyn asked as she jumped the last three steps to the tunnels, the thud of her feet hitting the ground echoing.

“Stop right there, Megavolt!” Gizmoduck ordered, though he was mostly confused as to why Megavolt had stopped running, standing on one of the rails. Then he heard a click and realized what Megavolt was doing. “Did you just electro-magnetize yourself to the subway rails?”

“I did! Now I can get around the city much faster than you can, and you will never catch up! You can’t stop me, Gizmoduck!” Megavolt declared, his arms in the air, electricity crackling in arches above him. “And soon I will be in possession of all the lightbulbs in Duckburg!”

“Whoa, wait, seriously?” Gandra said suddenly. “All that back at the theater, was over _lightbulbs_?”

Megavolt lowered his arms some and tilted his head at her. “Uh… yeah?”

“ _Lightbulbs_ ,” Gandra repeated incredulously. She turned to Gizmoduck and said, “This guy goes to all this trouble, for _lightbulbs_?”

“It’s kind of his gimmick,” Gizmoduck admitted.

“Back at Christmas, he extended it to those inflatable lawn decorations,” Gosalyn added helpfully.

“ _Lightbulbs_ ,” Gandra said yet again, though this time with some disgust. “What a waste of potential in a villain.”

Megavolt blinked. “Waste? How is it a waste?”

“I’m just saying, when these guys were describing you, they were making you sound way more of a problem. Like, you’d rob ATMs or whatever instead of just stealing something that can be so easily replaced,” Gandra said with a vague wave of her hand. “Just skip the middle man and buy them yourself.”

“Uh, Gandra?” Lena said urgently. “Pro-tip? Former bad-guys who are in the process of becoming a reformed bad-guy _should not be giving the actual bad-guys ideas_!”

Gandra’s expression fell, realizing too late what she had just said and in front of who she had said it.

Megavolt straightened and grinned. “You’re right… I have been wasting my potential… And now, I can use my powers to not only liberate every lightbulb in the world, but to buy every single manufacturing plant in the world! And liberating more machines while I’m at it!” He rubbed his hands together in glee. “Thanks for the tip, hot stuff!”

With that, he shot his bolts of electricity at the area above the heroes’ heads before zipping off down the rails.

“Move!” Gizmoduck ordered, perhaps unnecessarily as they all ran and dived out of the way as the ceiling collapsed.

Gizmoduck went after Megavolt, Gandra behind him.

Megavolt looked behind his shoulder and shot electricity, striking Gizmoduck in the shoulder, sending him spiraling—and taking Gandra with him as he collided with her, the two falling into a maintenance tunnel.

The rocks crumbled and caved in.

And they were all separated.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay children,” Gyro said in what he hoped was an authoritative way—because he was an adult for crying out loud. More than that, he was a genius! He was used to being the smartest person in the room, the person everyone should listen to. Most of the time, they did. Granted, most of the time it was because the only other people in the room were his interns… Children were just much shorter interns, right?

Speaking of short, was it his imagination or was the ceiling getting closer? Nope, it was definitely getting closer. The walls, too.

No. There was no need to panic.

“The important thing here is to not panic,” Gyro stated out-loud as he paced in front of the rocks that had fallen, separating him, Gosalyn and Violet from the others. “Right. There’s no need to panic. Not at all. We’re just… trapped. In an abandoned subway tunnel. Separated from friends and allies and might never see the sun again. Is it warm in here? And am I the only one who feels like the walls are closing in? Oh. Actually, we may need to panic. I don’t know where the gas lines are in this area of the city. No, wait, don’t panic because then you’ll hyperventilate and just make the gas inhalation worse. Right. So. Don’t panic. And we’re going to get out of here.” He frantically started poking at rocks. “Don’t worry, children, this is just a simple logic puzzle! Just need to find the right rock and this whole thing will crumble away and we’ll be off to sweet, sweet freedom! I can practically smell the fresh air!”

“Dr. Gearloose,” Violet said calmly. “Are you by any chance claustrophobic?”

“Claustrophobic?” Gyro said, his pitch heightening on certain vowels. “No. Me? No. Never. I’m not claustrophobic. Not at all.”

“It’s okay, Dr. Gearloose,” Gosalyn insisted. “You know Uncle Scrooge is claustrophobic, right?”

“He is?” Gyro said, pausing in his frantic patting of the rocks in front him to look over his shoulder at her.

“Yeah, you should really hear him rant about how much he hates Santa,” Gosalyn said with a nod, tucking her hands in the pockets of her jacket.

Violet slowly turned to Gosalyn, her face in its typical expressionless mode. That was not because she was masking her emotions. She just did not know what kind of face one made in response to that kind of statement.

Then she looked back at Gyro, mumbling to himself as he poked rocks and saying something about this always working in the _Nancy Drake_ games and clearly trying not to panic about being enclosed in the dark, and Violet came to a conclusion. It was not an unusual conclusion, not necessarily surprising. She came to the conclusion frequently in the company of others.

And that was that she was the current holder of all the braincells in this closed off, abandoned subway tunnel.

“Dr. Gearloose,” Violet said patiently. “I believe we have a better chance of getting above ground if we continue along this tunnel.”

Gyro froze and didn’t turn to face her. “It’s dark that way. We don’t know what is that way. Besides, didn’t your parents ever teach you that if you ever got stuck in a cave-in you were supposed to stay exactly where you are so that you have a better chance of being found?”

“Pretty sure that’s what you’re supposed to do if you get lost at the mall,” Gosalyn pointed out.

“We do, however, know that this area is perhaps not the most structurally sound. Especially when someone keeps jabbing at the rocks that caused the cave in,” Violet pointed out.

Gyro’s shoulders slumped and he turned back to the two girls, finally fixing his askew glasses on his face. “Fine. Fine! You present valid points! We’ll go down the dark, creepy tunnel…”

“At least we’ve got Lil Bulb,” Gosalyn pointed out, crouching down to allow Lil Bulb to walk onto her hand and up to her shoulder. “So we’ve got a source of light.”

Almost immediately as Lil Bulb was on Gosalyn’s shoulder was he snatched by Gyro, who held him close.

“I’m the adult,” He stated. “I hold the source of light.”

Gosalyn held her hands up in a manner of surrender. She was not about to argue with Gyro in the state he was in. And if holding on to Lil Bulb gave him any sort of reassurance, then so be it.

“The proverbial and literal light at the end of the tunnel awaits,” Violet said.

And so they set off into the dark.

*****

Gandra groaned and pushed herself off the ground, coughing to get the dust out of her lungs. She blinked, hardly able to see in the dark.

But she could see one thing, gleaming white despite the dust and dirt that had covered them both and the little light coming in.

“Suit!” She gasped, getting to her feet and carefully making her way over to Gizmoduck. Gravel cut into her knees as she sank down beside him, running her hands over the suit’s torso till she found Fenton’s face. Frantically, Gandra pressed two fingers to the corner of his beak, relieved to feel a pulse. Made her feel a little less guilty for what she was about to do next, firmly smacking him in the side of the face. “Suit. Suit. Gizmoduck. Fenton!”

Gandra sighed in relief at hearing a groan and a mumbled, “I’m awake, I’m awake…”

Carefully, she reached up and pushed back the visor so she could see Fenton’s eyes—not that it did much good. It was too dark to see if he had a concussion or anything. “Anything broken?”

“Inside the suit, I don’t think so,” Fenton said, pushing himself into a seated position. “Hang on. Activating headlights.”

Gandra flinched at the sudden brightness coming from the Gizmoduck helmet, but her eyes quickly adjusted.

“Well, at least that works,” Fenton said. “Initialize systems check. Runnig diagnostics.”

Gandra wasn’t entirely certain if he was talking out loud to himself, to her, or to the suit. She backed up slightly as Fenton put the suit through its paces. The wheel worked. Rocket boosters. Helmet copter. The extendo-arms…

Well. One of them, at least.

Where Gizmoduck had been struck on the shoulder by Megavolt, there was a black mark and Fenton could not make the right arm move or access any of the gizmos.

“Great,” Fenton said upon learning this. “Perfect. Just perfect…”

“Do you know what’s wrong and how to fix it?” Gandra asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Fenton answered.

“Why unfortunately?”

“Because I know how to fix it, but I can’t access while I’m in the suit,” Fenton explained. “And if one piece of the suit shuts down, then the whole thing is impacted; can’t get it off. Besides, I don’t even have the tools for fixing it.”

“What tools do you need?” Gandra asked, unbuttoning the pockets on her cargo pants.

“Screwdriver, needle-nose plyers, the usual,” Fenton said. “Wait, you have all that in your pockets?”

“Yep,” Gandra said, pulling out the said tools. “Never know when you’ll need them. Look, if you tell me what to do and where the problem is, I can fix it.”

Fenton was quiet for a moment. “We’re wasting time, we should be getting out of here, finding Megavolt…”

“And you’re going to need a fully functional Gizmosuit to stop him, aren’t you? You’re right handed,” Gandra pointed out. Then she closed her eyes and softly whispered, “Please, Suit. Let me do this.”

Fenton was quiet again then he moved so his back was to her. But before hurt could sink in, he said, “Between the clavicle and the collarbone. You’ll find a panel. Take it off, and it’ll give you access to most of the wiring for the right arm.”

Gandra nearly dropped the tools in her hand as she scrambled to find the panel. She found it, then started to take it off. Now that she saw the hardware underneath, she had a fairly decent idea of what needed to be done, though with Gearloose’s designs and Fenton’s modifications, she worried that what she thought was right wouldn’t actually be right.

Then she had an idea. She pulled out her phone and opened the app she had created that was connected to her eyebots. She put it on video-chat mode and handed it to Fenton. “Here,” She said. “So you can see what I’m doing, and I have a better idea of what I need to be looking for.”

“Smart,” Fenton commented as he accepted her phone. “Also, full disclosure, this is kind of weird. Yellow wire.”

“Which part?” Gandra asked as she started messing with the wires.

“Seeing the inside of the Gizmosuit while I’m still wearing it, especially while someone is working with it,” Fenton admitted. “It almost feels like I’m watching someone perform surgery on me.”

“Worse, you have to talk someone who is only half sure they know what they’re doing through performing surgery on you,” Gandra said as she worked. “Which is totally messed up.”

“You’re doing well so far,” Fenton told her. “Don’t even think I really need to be telling you what to do. Just be care—wait, don’t touch the red—aah!”

Gandra moved her hands back, her eyes going wide as Fenton suddenly seized, curling forward slightly and breathing heavily.

“Fen—” She started to say but was cut off by his quick, “I’m okay.”

“What the heck was that?” Gandra demanded.

“Suit’s connected to my nervous system,” Fenton explained through gritted teeth. “You kind of just literally struck a nerve.”

“The suit is connected to your freaking nervous system?” Gandra exclaimed.

“Yeah, you’re not the only one who likes to get dangerous and fuse tech and the body together for funsies,” Fenton said, his breathing evening out some. “Long story short, my brain is this thing’s processor. Only way it doesn’t self-destruct on a regular basis.”

“You did that, or Gearloose did?” Gandra asked.

“Actually, it was Huey. It was his idea and his quick patch job.” Fenton explained. “He got a Junior Woodchuck badge out of it. Two, actually. One for philosophy. Somehow.”

Gandra sat back on her heels. “Of course,” She said dryly. “A freaking Junior Woodchuck would be better in this scenario than me. Can’t do anything right…” She grabbed the panel, but had forgotten that Fenton could still see what she did, and what she was doing.

“What are you doing?” Fenton asked. “Why are you putting the panel back on? It’s not fixed.”

“You’re right, we’re wasting time, we should be getting out of here,” Gandra said, her voice tight. “Let me just put this back on, and we’ll go find someone who isn’t a massive screw-up to do this. Someone you actually trust.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Fenton said. “I do still trust you to do this repair. You didn’t do it on purpose, and I should have warned you about the red wires.”

“You don’t trust me,” Gandra insisted. “Not where it matters. And I don’t blame you. I’ve done nothing to earn it.”

Her vision was blurring with tears and in frustration she closed her eyes and rubbed her arm against her eyes.

Fenton turned around, his visor still up, and took her arm, lowering it. “Gandra… You’re not a screw-up.”

“Yes, I am,” Gandra told him. “I’m not a good person, Fenton. Not like you and your friends. Everyone’s right to not trust me. You’re right to not trust me. I don’t know why I even bothered to ask for help, or think I could leave F.O.W.L, or that I could even do this ‘good guy’ thing. I’m not a good person. And maybe I’ll never be.”

“Hey,” Fenton said, squeezing her hand in his. “Don’t say that. You’re working hard to be a good person.”

“Yeah, and everything I’ve done so far in that regard has been a huge disaster,” Gandra argued. “Especially today. I made everything worse with Megavolt, I’m the reason we’re trapped here, all because I ran my mouth and had to do things my way. Which has been the root of my problems since I was five, and how I got myself into this mess with F.O.W.L to begin with.”

“You’re not used to working with a team,” Fenton commented. “Even with F.O.W.L, it’s a one-woman show for you, isn’t it?” Gandra didn’t respond. Fenton sighed. “Gandra, listen. I know you’re trying. And I’m trying to trust you. Really. It’s just, well—”

“That I sided with your archenemy to steal your passcode, zapped you with my nanites, then came up with an elaborate scheme to ask you for help, which—if you accepted—would ultimately put you in harm’s way?”

“Well, yes,” Fenton admitted. “But I’ve also seen how you’ve tried to fix mistakes, or help. You came to help me fight Mark Beaks and rescue Huey and Webby when he took them. And you came to fight alongside me and Darkwing and Donald at the restaurant the other night, when you didn’t have to. You volunteered to help me this afternoon. And—regardless of what your reasons are for leaving F.O.W.L—you recognize that they’re the bad guys, and you want to be a good guy.”

Gandra didn’t look at him, didn’t respond.

“I see you’re trying, Gandra,” Fenton whispered. “You’re putting in the effort. And, even now, when things aren’t going the way you planned or hoped, you’re still trying. I can tell, Gandra, that even though you feel like a screw-up, that you feel like you’ll never be trusted, that you’ll never be seen as a ‘good guy’, you won’t go back to F.O.W.L. Not willingly, at least. Am I right on that?”

Gandra nodded, still not looking at him. “I can’t see them as family again,” She whispered. “I can’t see that as a safe place again.”

Fenton’s heart panged. For the first time, he fully realized the extent to which Gandra was willing to go to leave F.O.W.L. To choose _him_.

She was giving up the only home that she’d ever had. The only home that had wanted her.

And doing so put her into a place where she was an outsider, distrusted, someone who no one wanted to be too closely associated with.

To her, he and the other ‘good guys’ were a pit of vipers, ready to strike.

Fenton tried to banish the memory of Mr. McDuck’s Cobras, the lie-detecting snake-shaped bracelets that had been put around Gandra’s wrists during her interrogation. How fitting it was for the situation she was now in—that she had chosen to put herself in willingly.

Just to be a ‘good guy’.

“I’m sorry,” Fenton whispered. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through, before F.O.W.L, with F.O.W.L, and now.”

“I don’t want your pity,” Gandra snapped.

“I’m not offering pity, I’m offering sympathy.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The difference is that I wasn’t looking at this the same way you were. I didn’t realize how big of a change this is for you, what you’re giving up. You’re trading security for insecurity. You’re going from people who trust you and give you free reign over your life to a bunch of restrictions and people watching for you to make a mistake. And I’m sorry that you had to reveal a lot of personal stuff the other night—more than you were expecting to, at least. I’m sorry that you’re making huge, life-changing decisions with very little support. And I’m sorry that I haven’t made it any easier. I’m sorry that I ran out the other night, I’m sorry for not talking to you—really talking to you—until now. I’m just… sorry.”

“I think you’ve bypassed sympathy and gone straight on to actual apologizing,” Gandra commented.

“Yeah, which I needed to do,” Fenton admitted.

Gandra’s shoulders slumped and turned to him, so he could see the sincerity in her blue eyes. “And so do I. I’m sorry, Fenton, for everything I’ve put you through. Like I said, you have every reason to not trust me. I’ve never given you a reason to.”

“It’s not an excuse for giving you the silent treatment, though,” Fenton told her. “Just… when you said that you wanted to leave F.O.W.L, because you like me… I didn’t really know what to think. Or what to think in what order.” He felt his cheeks heat in the dark. “Uh, though that can be a conversation for later. One deep conversation about emotions at a time, right?”

“Fenton,” Gandra said quickly, not looking at him. “It’s okay. You can tell me. I’m… I’m going to leave F.O.W.L one way or another. You don’t have to be the nice guy and let me down gently or whatever.”

“Wait,” Fenton said, blinking. “You thought I was going to reject you?”

Gandra looked at him with wide eyes, her lower beak dropping. “You… You’re… Not…?”

“I don’t quite know for sure how I feel right now,” Fenton admitted. “I don’t know for sure if I’m falling in love. But what I do know is that I liked you from the moment I met you. You’re smart, and witty, and gorgeous, and confident, and way out of my league—so I did think it was too good to be true that you wanted to be seen anywhere near me. I didn’t think I stood any sort of chance with you. So when you came back, at the bachelor auction…”

“You really did think I was after something else. Not you.” Gandra finished. Tenatively, she reached her hand up, froze, letting her fingers curl in her hand, withdrawing slightly. Then she reached up and put her hand on the side of Fenton’s face. “It was always you. This awkward nerd with big ideas and an even bigger heart. I want to be with you, Fenton.”

Fenton placed his armored hand on her face, gently brushing back her dust-covered hair from her eyes. “Gandra, maybe…”

He was interrupted by a wailing sound coming from his gauntlet. The panel opened automatically, giving both him and Gandra a view of what was happening on the screen.

We’re here live from downtown Duckburg,” Roxanne Featherly was saying. “Where the supervillain Megavolt is currently holding the mayor hostage and demanding full access to Duckburg’s treasury. This comes after he has made every ATM in his path release all of the cash. What he intends to do with said money is undetermined. Citizens are asking, where is Gizmoduck? Why hasn’t he stopped Megavolt? Has he abandoned the city he has sworn to protect? And, if so, does that seriously mean we’re left with, ugh, _Darkwing Duck_ as the city’s superhero?”

Fenton and Gandra exchanged a wide-eyed look.

“Maybe we need to finish this conversation later,” Gandra said.

“You read my mind,” Gizmoduck responded.

*****

“Lena!” Webby called in the dark, breathing a sigh of relief as an eerie purple glow filled the tunnel, emitting from Lena’s hands.

“Pink!” Lena exclaimed, smiling. “You’re okay!”

“Yeah, but it looks like we’re alone,” Webby said. She pulled her phone out and frowned. “Okay, no signal, so we can’t call anyone for help.”

“Well, these subway tunnels lead somewhere, right?” Lena said. “If we keep walking, we’ll find another exit. Any chance you’ve got a map of the old Duckburg subway tunnels memorized?”

“Of course,” Webby said, like Lena was asking about the order of the colors of the rainbow. “We should come out near the hospital. It’s going to be about two miles.”

“Joy,” Lena said flatly. She sighed. “Well, we better get a move on.”

They headed down the tunnel, trying hard not to jump at the sounds of rats and other critters scurrying past. Neither girl was particularly skittish, but the combination of the dark tunnels, worry about their friends, and their only source of light being the flickering, spooky glow of Lena’s magic unnerved them both.

“So…” Lena said softly. “What’s your deal, Webby?”

“What do you mean?” Webby asked. “I don’t have a ‘deal’.”

“Yeah, you do, with Gandra,” Lena said. “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always believed in the best of people. You trust people. You give them an infinite amount of chances. You just want to be friends with everyone. But not Gandra, even as she’s trying to prove she’s a good person.”

“She’s not,” Webby snapped. “She’s tricked Fenton, she didn’t listen to him earlier, and then she gave Megavolt ideas, and she’s been part of F.O.W.L for years.”

“Gandra’s made mistakes, but she’s owned up to all of them,” Lena said. “And she’s trying to leave F.O.W.L.”

“So she claims,” Webby said dismissively. “Why do you trust Gandra so much? You don’t trust _anyone_.”

“You’re seriously asking me that question?” Lena said with a small scoff.

“Yes, I’m seriously asking!” Webby said, stopping in the tunnel, stomping her foot and crossing her arms over her chest. “Why would you ever stick up for Gandra Dee?”

“Don’t you get it, Webby?” Lena demanded, throwing her arms wide, briefly expanding the radius of the glow from her hands. “I would have thought you would see it, out of everyone! Gandra is like me! I was trying to free myself from Magica, and I couldn’t. I did so many awful, hurtful things to you and your family, all because I was manipulated into doing so! And even knowing they were harmful, I willfully did them, at least in the beginning! Even with everything I’ve done, you still are always the first person to say that I’m a good person, and you still call me your best friend. So why can’t you do the same with Gandra?”

“Because she’s not you!” Webby argued. “Your situations are different!”

“What, because she’s an adult and I’m a kid?” Lena challenged. “Adults are allowed to make mistakes. Actually, they make plenty of mistakes. But at least she’s trying to make up for them!”

“It’s not that!” Webby said, turning on her heel and pacing back and forth some. “I just… I can’t. I don’t want to believe her. I can’t trust her, not when I know she’s part of F.O.W.L.”

“Wait,” Lena said suddenly. “So if she did all the things she did and wasn’t a part of F.O.W.L, you’d trust her? Is that what it comes to?”

“No,” Webby said quickly. Too quickly.

“Pink,” Lena said sharply. “I don’t like fighting with you. I’m just trying to understand. And that can’t happen if you’re not honest with me.”

Webby was quiet and turned away. She mumbled something and Lena frowned, not catching a word.

“What did you say?” Lena asked, putting one hand on Webby’s shoulder.

When Webby turned to face her, it was with big watery eyes and a whisper.

“I think F.O.W.L killed my parents.”


	3. Chapter 3

Lena’s magical glow briefly disappeared, plunging the girls into darkness before Lena quickly brought forth light again.

Lena was speechless. She couldn’t remember the last time she didn’t know what to say, be it some bit of biting sarcasm or harsh truth or… anything.

“Your…” She whispered. “Your parents?”

Webby nodded and swiped her arm over her eyes. “Yeah.”

Lena hesitated, then gently took Webby’s hand, leading her down the tunnel. “Why do you think that F.O.W.L killed them?”

“You know my Granny was a spy,” Webby said softly. “She doesn’t deny it or hide it, really. But she worked for an organization that foiled F.O.W.L’s plots. When I was little, she would tell me all of these stories. Other little girls got stories of princesses and dragons. I got stories about spies that included learning all the different ways to incapacitate a person.

“And… one day, I asked Granny if my mom and dad were spies for S.H.U.S.H, too. If that was why I lived with her and not them. And Granny… she just got really quiet. I could tell I had upset her with my question. And she just said ‘Not anymore’, and that we could talk about that more when I was older. I… I didn’t get what that meant, at the time. As I got older, I figured it out.”

“Webs… I’m sorry,” Lena whispered in the dark. “I’m so sorry.”

Webby was quiet for a moment, then whispered,

“I can’t help but wonder, you know, if that’s why she kept me in the mansion for so long. Why she trained me so hard. Because she felt like she failed my mom, her daughter. Like, if she had more training, or… or if my mom hadn’t followed in her footsteps, things would be different. That she wanted me to be different. Because for every time she’s trained me, given me every skill I have, made me who I am, Granny has never wanted me to be a spy.”

“She told you that?” Lena asked.

“Not in so many words,” Webby admitted. “That night, that was the last time she told me any spy stories. She switched to telling me stories about Uncle Scrooge. It’s what kick-started my obsession with the McDuck family. Maybe she hoped I’d get the idea to use my skills differently.”

“Have you and your Granny ever talked about it?” Lena asked. “About your parents, after that?”

“No.” Webby admitted. “I’m… I want to know. But I’m too afraid to ask.”

“Afraid of your Granny, or…?”

“Of the unknown.”

Lena scoffed at that. “Yeah, right, Pink. You? Afraid of anything? And of the unknown? The Webby I know charges headfirst into the unknown.”

“The unknown of the story,” Webby responded. “It’s all just… What if part of the story is something that I don’t want to hear?”

“Wait,” Lena said. “Then is it good or bad that your parents were heroes, spies fighting F.O.W.L? I mean, it’s bad either way, I guess, because, well, you know… But if they are dead, and died how you think they did, then they’re heroes.”

“Yeah, but there’s two other possibilities to the story. Neither of which I think I want to hear,” Webby said. “And that’s why I’m afraid to talk to Granny about it. Because I don’t want to run the chance of hearing the things I don’t want to hear.”

“What are the two things?” Lena asked.

Webby took a deep breath. “That the reason that they’re dead is because they were protecting me.”

Lena frowned, a chill running through her. She understood that. Webby would blame herself for her parents’ deaths, then, instead of F.O.W.L. Perhaps that was why she was taking so much out on Gandra, because it was a reflection of what she would (and quite possibly did) feel regarding that theory.

“And the other one?” Lena prompted.

Webby was silent for a moment.

“The other possibility… Is that they’re still alive. And they just didn’t want me.” Webby whispered at last.

Lena’s heart panged.

Webby assuming her parents were dead was the least-painful option of why she was raised by her grandmother. Webby may not have been absolutely certain that her parents were dead… but assuming that they were was actually the least heartbreaking option.

“Well,” Lena said softly. “Maybe there’s a third possibility.”

“Yeah?” Webby asked, rubbing at her eyes again.

“Yeah,” Lena said with a determined nod. “Because, maybe your parents are still alive… but they’re deep, deep, deep undercover, trying to take out F.O.W.L. That the only way they knew you’d be safe was if they asked your granny—the world’s most epic former spy—to take care of you. And they think about you and miss you constantly, and are working even harder to take down F.O.W.L because that means they can finally get back to you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lena watched tension leave Webby’s form. “You think so? You really think so?”

“I think anything is possible,” Lena said. “And I have you to thank for that. Because you’re constantly making the impossible possible. So if you’re anything like your parents, they’ve got to be the same way, right?”

Webby was smiling now, her eyes still glinting with unshed tears, as she threw her arms around Lena, nearly knocking the taller girl over. Careful to keep one hand glowing, Lena embraced Webby.

“Thank you, Lena,” Webby whispered.

“Anytime, Pink,” Lena responded. She gently released Webby and said, “Now, let’s get out of this creepy tunnel and go kick Megavolt’s sparkplug.”

*****

“Freedom!” Gyro Gearloose yelled as he ran up the stairs of the abandoned subway station into the street. “Sweet, sweet freedom! Oh, fresh air, I will never take you for granted again! I promise I’ll spend one, no, two hours outside of the lab just to enjoy this!”

Gosalyn and Violet exchanged a glance. They both knew Dr. Gearloose well enough to know that this was probably the most time he had spent outside in months. They were not expecting miracles.

Violet pulled out her phone. “Now that we have service again, I’m going to attempt to make contact with the others, see if they are aboveground yet.”

“And I’m going to see what Megavolt is up to,” Gosalyn said as she pulled out her own phone.

Neither girl had gotten too far into their task when suddenly they heard the screech of tires.

Well, one tire, actually.

“Dr. Gearloose! Gos! Violet!” Gizmoduck exclaimed as he came to a stop, Gandra on his back.

“Gizmoduck! Gandra! You’re okay!” Gosalyn exclaimed with relief.

“Where’s Lena and Webby?” Gandra asked.

“We’re attempting to make contact,” Violet explained, but as soon as she said it her phone buzzed. She looked at the text and smiled. “Webby just texted. She and Lena have made it out of the tunnels. They are near the hospital.”

“Tell them to stay there, we’ll catch up with them,” Gizmoduck said. But before Violet could even start to form a response, he reached out with an extendoarm and scooped up the two girls and one indignant mad scientist who complained the entire time and went full-steam ahead in the direction Violet had given.

Webby and Lena waved them down, their arms in the air and jumping slightly to get their attention. Gizmoduck came to a halt and let off his ‘passengers’.

“That was fun, we’ve gotta do that again!” Gosalyn said excitedly.

“Later,” Gizmoduck said. “Megavolt has the mayor hostage, and is trying to get the city council to hand over the entire treasury.”

Everyone was instantly in serious mode.

“Okay, so, what do we have on our side?” Lena said. “My magic, the Gizmosuit, Gandra’s nanites—”

“No,” Gandra said, shaking her head. “This all started because we thought that my nanites could take him down, but instead they just give Megavolt more power.”

“That excess power is perhaps the biggest obstacle we are facing, and we need to find a way to use that to our advantage,” Violet spoke up. “A way to get Megavolt to expel that excess energy.”

“Like when you blow a fuse?” Gosalyn said. “From using too much power?”

“Blow a fuse…” Gyro said, putting a finger under his chin in thought. “That would work. That battery pack is his power-source, and getting him to use enough of that energy may overload the connection. The hard part, of course, is figuring out how to do that in a safe way so that no one gets hurt, especially if he has hostages. He’d have to direct that power onto one thing, and one thing only, though.”

“So we need to think of something that can handle that amount of energy, and something he’d want to channel the energy into,” Webby said.

“The Gizmosuit.”

Everyone turned to Gizmoduck, who looked resolute.

“Okay, so, I could totally levitate the armor and make him think that Gizmoduck is coming for him—” Lena said, but Gizmoduck cut her off.

“No, I need to be in the suit. He needs to think he’s won. It’s the only way for him to get cocky enough to lead to his own downfall,” Gizmoduck insisted.

“Um, yeah, but that would also lead to you getting fried.” Gosalyn pointed out. “Right?”

“The modifications we added to the suit when Megavolt first started his career in crime could handle most of the electrical charge,” Gyro said, wariness in his voice. “But that is still a lot of voltage that could get through and, well, yes, fry you like a candy bar at the fair.”

“What about an insulator that covers the entire body, acting as a barrier between Fenton and the suit?” Violet suggested.

“Such as?” Lena asked.

“A rubber wetsuit from the scuba shop down the street,” Violet answered.

“That might work,” Gizmoduck said.

“Emphasis on ‘might’, and you said that your brain is the processor, and the suit is connected to your nerves. We really don’t want any risk of doing any nerve damage,” Gandra pointed out, frowning. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, I have an idea for an extra insulator. Cotton. We get a whole bunch of cotton balls from the drug store, tear at them a little, and wrap it around the wires connected to the nervous system.”

“How do you know about all that?” Gyro asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Because she’s already made one repair to the suit today,” Gizmoduck said, a bit sharply. Gyro arched an eyebrow at him, silently demanding to hear more about this later.

Gyro sighed. “Alright, yes, I think that combination might work. Not a fail-safe guarantee that there’s no risk of injury, but it’s limiting the risks. We can test it before we get anywhere near Megavolt.”

“But how are you going to get close enough to Megavolt for him to take the bait?” Webby asked.

“I have another idea,” Gandra said slowly, looking at Gizmoduck. “Do you trust me?”

Without hesitation, Gizmoduck put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Yes.”

Gandra’s smile was quick and fleeting, relieved and happy, but she quickly schooled her expression and said, “Here’s what I’m thinking.”

*****

Detective Rosa Cabrera tapped her foot on the pavement anxiously, looking up at the sky.

Where was he?

She frowned and huffed out a frustrated sigh before looking back at City Hall, surrounded by police barricades, news vans, ambulances, and more. The SWAT team was waiting for the order to storm the building, though with uneasy anticipation, as knowing that the moment anyone stepped foot inside City Hall, there was the risk of the mayor and the other hostages being hurt by Megavolt.

Rosa glanced up at the sky again.

Where was Gizmoduck?

That had been the question of the afternoon, and it wasn’t just Rosa who was anxiously asking that question. Gizmoduck had last been seen going down into the old subway tunnels, chasing Megavolt. Only one of the two had been seen since.

Rosa glanced over at her captain, Raymond Sabrewing, who was also on edge and uncharacteristically snapping at subordinates, reporters, and too-curious onlookers. For the two of them, the disappearance of Gizmoduck was much more personal, as Raymond’s daughters had been seen following Gizmoduck into the tunnels and he hadn’t been able to contact them since.

Suddenly, she heard gasps and excited shouts, “Gizmoduck” being said in whispers and shouts.

Rosa turned to see the now-familiar white armor, gleaming in the late-afternoon sun. Relief coursed through her, but it was short lived.

Something was wrong.

She knew it the second she saw Gandra Dee, her phone in hand in front of her, and the smirk on her face.

She knew it the second she saw what appeared to be Gizmoduck’s upper limbs moving oddly, yet still moving forward. Compliantly. Or, perhaps not…

Rosa pushed her way towards them, but she was too late. They were past the police barricades, the officers not noticing the odd behavior of the superhero or questioning the presence of the woman beside him. Together, the two made it up the front steps to City Hall, stopping at the top of the stairs in front of the doors.

Rosa was about to pass the barricade, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to snap at whoever it was, but froze when she saw that it was the last person she expected to see (and would always be the last person she wanted to see): a dirt-covered Gyro Gearloose, who had white fuzz sticking to his clothes.

“Wait,” He said simply. “Just wait a second.”

Rosa jerked away from his grasp. She would not wait, she had no reason to listen to the scientist.

Something was wrong, and she knew it.

But before she could bark an order at the uniformed officer to let her pass, everything happened at once.

Rosa’s heart sank and her blood ran cold as Gandra pressed something on her phone, bringing it up to her mouth, amplifying her voice.

“Megavolt,” She said calmly. “I’ve got a deal for you. A partnership… and the end of Gizmoduck.”

*****

Gandra’s smirk was genuine now as she could see Megavolt through the glass doors, looking gleeful and striding towards them quickly, though clearly trying not to run.

Just as they had hoped, he took the bait.

“Ready for phase two, Suit?” She muttered, lowering her phone.

“Ready,” Gizmoduck responded in a whisper.

“Now,” Gandra instructed, pressing something on her phone as Megavolt pushed open the door.

On cue at hearing the audible beep, Gizmoduck fell forward onto the ground, unable to get up despite clearly attempting to.

Megavolt’s eyes gleamed as he rubbed his hands together gleefully as he stared down at Gizmoduck, before looking up at Gandra.

“I see you decided to pick a real man,” He told her smugly.

“No,” Gandra responded. “I decided to pick a winning side. There’s a clear difference.”

Gizmoduck stretched out his arm, reaching for Megavolt, but Gandra tapped her phone again with a _tsk_ , and with the beep Gizmoduck’s arm retracted, only for Gizmoduck to pound a fist on the ground.

Megavolt stared in awe at what happened, then up at Gandra. “What—?”

“I hacked the Gizmoduck armor,” Gandra said simply, sounding pleased. “All too easy.” She waved her phone in the air some, saying in a taunting voice, “Now, I have complete control of Gizmoduck. Now he knows what it’s like for all those poor lightbulbs and machines, slaves to ungrateful wasters of electricity.”

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m in love with you,” Megavolt said, practically salivating.

“Get in line,” Gandra snapped. She kicked her foot out, turning Gizmoduck onto his back, then putting a foot on the chest. “Anyways. Like I said. I’m open for a partnership between us. And I brought you Gizmoduck as a peace offering for earlier.”

“A peace offering, eh?” Megavolt said, circling the downed superhero, who snarled and attempted to reach out, but couldn’t. “I must say, I approve. Now. What shall we do with him?”

“I had a thought about that,” Gandra said. “I think it would send a great message, and be a great start to your rule, to show the world who you are and what you are capable of, to end Gizmoduck. Once and for all.”

*****

“No,” Rosa gasped, her pulse thudding in her ears, adrenaline coursing through her, ready to rush forward, though she knew she’d never make it in time.

Not as Megavolt’s hands already began to crackle with electricity.

Not as he declared, “Lights out, Gizmoduck!”

Not as he dropped his hands to the logo on Gizmoduck’s chestplate.

*****

Megavolt cackled maniacally as the power coursed through him and into Gizmoduck.

This was it! This was victory!

This was his moment, the moment he had been looking to achieve ever since he donned his costume and set out on his vigilante mission!

Third time really was the charm, wasn’t it?

But he forgot about one thing.

Pride goeth before the fall.

He was already envisioning himself in glory—and that hot chick declaring her undying love for him and becoming his queen—and he didn’t notice just how much power he was outputting until…

There wasn’t a boom, or a crack, or a pop. Nothing felt wrong or any warning signs.

Just his power fizzling out into nothing.

Megavolt lifted his hands, staring at them, panicking.

No. No, what had he done?

He tried desperately to get a spark going, anything, even the tiniest shock of static electricity.

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he realized what had happened.

He had blown a fuse.

Before he could even begin to start thinking of solutions, something thick and heavy hit him under the chin, sending him to the ground with an ‘oof!’.

Stars were dancing in Megavolt’s vision as he gaped up at Gizmoduck, who was smirking and not at all burnt to a crisp.

“You—” Megavolt gasped.

“Fell for our trap, hook, line, and sinker,” The woman said. Her smile was cruel as she winked at him. “Sorry, not sorry, to burst your bulb there.”

Megavolt gaped at her in horror. “No!” He exclaimed.

“Yes,” Gizmoduck said. “Lights out, Sparky.”

“Don’t call me—!” He started to yell, but was cut off with Gizmoduck hitting him on the top of the head, sinking into unconsciousness.

*****

“Keen gear, that was awesome!” Gosalyn exclaimed, her fists in the air as she, her friends, Gyro, Gandra and Gizmoduck entered the lab.

“I can’t believe Megavolt was that stupid to fall for our trap!” Lena said.

“Indeed,” Gryo agreed. He gave Gandra a rare smile and said, “Nice work, spy. And good call on using the cotton.”

“Yeah, that made a huge difference,” Fenton said as he disengaged the armor, which fell in pieces around him, Fenton landing on his feet and immediately trying to take off the rubber wetsuit he wore.

“I’m just glad that creep is behind bars,” Gandra said, smiling easily as she met Fenton’s gaze.

He smiled at her in return.

Because they both knew what she was truly happy about was that he trusted her enough to go with her plan, that he had trusted her suggestion for adding protection to the Gizmosuit, that she had successfully shown that she was capable of being a ‘good guy’.

And glad to know that Fenton returned the feelings she felt for him.

Ah, yes, they needed to continue that conversation.

Fenton finished freeing himself from the wetsuit, saying, “Hey, uh, Dr. Gearloose, how about you and the kids order some food? We should probably feed them before returning them to their parents.”

“I’m not arguing with you on that only because right now shrimp fried rice sounds really good,” Gyro said, pulling out his phone, instantly surrounded by the four girls.

“Ooh, can we get lo mein?” Gosalyn asked.

“Hot and sour soup, please,” Violet said.

“Egg rolls! Don’t forget egg rolls!” Webby exclaimed.

But before they could get too far in the process of ordering food, and before Fenton could take Gandra aside to talk to her in private as he had planned, the elevator doors opened again.

Rosa Cabrera stormed out of the elevator, her eyes full of fury.

“What the hell,” She growled. “Was that stunt?”

Fenton gulped. He knew he had been forgetting something… “Uh, hi, M’ma…”

“Don’t you ‘hi, M’ma’ me, young man,” Rosa snapped at him, folding her arms over her chest, her eyes solely on Gandra. “Whose brilliant idea was that idiotic, dangerous display?”

“Well, you see, it was actually well-planned out in a way to have everything happen in a safe—” Fenton said quickly, but Gandra, who was returning Rosa’s glare said,

“Mine. But I think you already knew that.”

Rosa swore under her breath in Spanish before snapping, “This is your idea of laying low, staying out of sight and mind of your nefarious bosses? Well, guess what, Gandra Dee? You just put a target on your back. Not only for whenever Megavolt escapes again, but for F.O.W.L to start wondering where your loyalties truly lie.”

“I can tell them that it’s all part of getting closer to Gizmoduck,” Gandra argued. “And—”

“And, what?” Rosa snapped, throwing her arms in the air. “And in the meantime, you’re going to continue to ask for our help—Fenton’s help—while deliberately putting him in danger and, for all intents and purposes, making it appear to the entire city that you were willing to sacrifice Gizmoduck, the city’s hero, and encourage that monster to _kill_ him?”

Fenton winced. When he agreed to Gandra’s plan, when Gyro and the girls had added their own input, when they negotiated everything, they hadn’t thought about that part. How it would look to the watching citizens of Duckburg, who were likely horrified in thinking that they were about to watch Gizmoduck be murdered.

And horror sank into Fenton then and there.

It wasn’t just Duckburg watching.

His mother was watching. His mother, who knew exactly who was under that armor and was good about letting Gizmoduck fight his own battles even when all of her instincts told her not to. His mother, who had watched him throw himself head-first into danger more times than he knew she liked but didn’t say a word or tell him to quit—and he knew she thought about doing so somedays.

His mother, who didn’t trust Gandra and now had even less reasons to do so.

Gandra’s expression didn’t change, but she did flinch as if struck, her beak clenched. It was clear she didn’t know how to respond to that. Because she realized the exact same thing.

“Um, Detective Cabrera?” Webby said, stepping forward to put herself between Rosa and Gandra. Rosa glanced down at Webby, frowning. Webby took a deep breath and said, “We know our plan was risky. And we’re sorry that we didn’t think about how other people would see it. But we did prioritize protecting Fenton in the armor, and Gandra came up with a mod to the armor as part of that. And it worked! We all made some mistakes today, but we worked hard to fix those mistakes and capture Megavolt together.” Webby glanced at Gandra and smiled as she added, “And Gandra proved that she’s a good guy today. We trusted her, and it paid off. Megavolt is off the streets, and Duckburg is safe. That’s what matters in the end, right?”

Gandra smiled at Webby, realizing that this was an apology from the young girl for her previous behavior.

Rosa was not impressed. She huffed and shot another glare at Gandra. “I’ve got my eye on you, Dee.”

“I’m aware,” Gandra responded coolly.

Rosa shook her head in frustration, then turned and stormed out of the lab.

“So…” Gosalyn said in the awkward silence that followed. “Uh, we’re getting dumplings, right?”

Fenton followed Gandra to a corner of the lab while Gyro once again started Chinese food negotiations. “Hey, I’m sorry about my mom just now…”

“She was right, though,” Gandra said, frowning as she leaned her arms on a counter. “I was so focused on how to get to Megavolt, I didn’t think about how it would look to everyone outside of the plan.”

“And that plan went through six other people, who also didn’t see it,” Fenton told her, standing beside her and resting his arms on the counter as well. “We did this as a team, so we own the mistakes as a team as well as the success.”

Gandra was quiet for a moment, then said, “I never had that at F.O.W.L, either. Everyone was always trying to get ahead and win favors. There was no team work, no collective ownership of anything.” She smiled at Fenton. “I’m glad that’s different here.”

Fenton smiled in return, reaching over awkwardly to place a hand on her arm. “I’m glad you’re here.” They stared at each other in silence for a moment, then Fenton cleared his throat. “I, uh… I was wondering… How would you feel about giving us a trial period?”

“Us?” Gandra said, her brow furrowing. “You mean, like dating?”

“Yeah,” Fenton said, nodding. “Just… you, and me, and really getting to know each other, and no secrets or false pretenses from either of us—I totally count me going out with you trying to keep my Gizmoduck identity a false pretense, by the way.”

“A better reason for a false pretense than being a spy,” Gandra countered. “But I see your point.” She took a deep breath. “I’m… Look, you think I suck at teamwork now? Relationships are even worse for me. I have zero idea what I’m doing.”

“Fine by me,” Fenton said. “Because I also have no idea what I’m doing. But what I do know is this: I really like you, Gandra. And you like me. So I’m pretty sure dating—real dates—are what people do when there is mutual liking. Likenment. Likening?”

Gandra chuckled and grinned. “Yeah. I think that’s what’s supposed to happen, too. Alright, Suit. Let’s give it a shot.”

Fenton grinned and held out his hand for her. But he saw the mischief in Gandra’s eyes as she bypassed his hand, instead reaching up to cup his face, pressing her beak to his in a kiss.

Fenton blinked once in surprise, then closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss, resting his hands on Gandra’s hips.

Finally, when they came up for air, both panting, cheeks tinged pink, Fenton pressed his forehead to Gandra’s, smiling at seeing her smile.

They had a long way to go.

But they had a place to start.

*****

Whelp.

Here he was.

In jail.

Again.

And held without bond…

Megavolt had tried to explain to the arresting officer that he did, in fact, have enough money to pay bail.

But the stern looking dog who spoke in a monotone had just raised an eyebrow and said, “You mean the illegally stolen money that we just confiscated from you two hours ago?”

Yeah. That didn’t go well.

First he learned that the famed Gyro Gearloose was not on his side, then he got betrayed by that hot chick, then he blew a fuse of all things, and got beat up by Gizmoduck. All to finally end up in a jail cell.

Again.

This was not his day.

At least Dorkwing Duck never showed up.

Megavolt huffed, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. They had even removed the lightbulbs from his cell. Well, at least those little guys were free… But all the light he had coming in was from the moon shining in through the bars as well as that weird red glow.

Wait, weird red glow?

And what was making that sizzling sound?

Megavolt leapt to his feet, gaping in disbelief as the wall to his cell fell, revealing two ducks floating in the midair.

The female duck wore a tight blood red dress, her dark hair pinned up high in a bun, a glowing jewel around her neck, which she fingered lightly with one hand, her other hand on her hip. The male was just slightly shorter than her, dressed in a yellow jacket with a red and black cape and matching hat.

“Who are you?” Megavolt demanded.

“We’re here to offer you a deal,” The male duck said in a drawling voice.

“What kind of deal?” Megavolt asked warily.

“To get you out of this cell, dim bulb,” The duck snapped. He looked up at the woman and said, “For an electricity villain, he’s not too bright, eh?”

The woman tittered in agreement.

Megavolt scowled. “Who you callin’ a dim bulb, you geezer?”

“Geezer, ouch,” The man said in a mocking way. “I believe that’s what the kids call a ‘sick burn’. Well, if that’s the best you can do, then perhaps we made a mistake in coming here, Morgs.”

“I think you’re right, Negsy,” The woman—Morgs—said, her voice in a purr as they both turned away. “Too bad. We really thought that he’d be perfect for our crew.”

That caught Megavolt’s attention. “Crew? What kind of crew?”

The two paused and smirked at Megavolt over their shoulders.

“Oh? Are you interested?” The man—Negsy? What kind of name was that?—said.

“Depends,” Megavolt said, folding his arms over his chest. “What exactly does this crew do?”

“We’re called the Fearsome Five. Or, at least, we will be soon,” The woman explained as they both turned to face him again. “I’m Morgana, AKA Sorceress.”

“Jim Starling, Negaduck,” The man said, folding his arms over his chest. “We have one goal, and one goal only: take down the so-called superheroes of Duckburg.”

“You mean… Gizmoduck? And Dorkwing?” Megavolt asked.

Jim let out a bark of laugher. “Dorkwing, huh? Maybe you’re better at this than I thought. So, whatdya say? Are you in?”

Megavolt didn’t even spare a look around his cell. Didn’t even spare a second of thought.

He just grinned.

“I’m in.”


End file.
